Automatic clock regulator



- 3,1963 LA CLARE B. BOLES ETAL 3,112,505

AUTOMATIC CLOCK REGULATOR 3 $heets$heet 1 Filed March 7, 1960 INVENTORS Andi/92s 5. 80455 54 1054. omlggsrem Em/L J. lV/Z/V/K ATM! Amy-4M4 ArTOR/WFYS Dec. 9 LA CLARE B. BOLES ETAL 3,112,605

AUTOMATIC CLOCK REGULATOR Filed March 7, 1960 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS Anknes 8. 604:: 501054. O/Mezsr-EMI BY Emu. J. lV/ZlV/K Dec. 3, 1963 LA CLARE B- BOLES ETAL 3,112,605

AUTOMATIC CLOCK REGULATOR Filed March 7, 1960 {Sheets-Sheet 3 gal:

//z 1 l/ #41 n "h H P l 7 .11 2'2 3 INVENTORS an: a 80455 Samoa-4. Dave-ears! /Z/ ml} l BY E'M/L J. N/Z/V/K /2.5

United States Patent O.

This invention relates to improvements in automatic regulation of timepieces.

. More particularly stated the" invention relates to the divorcement of manual control from a timepiece rate regulator so that direct manual forces only store little or very limited bias in, for example, the torque of a resilient member, but the application of th-atbias for regulation change is delayed or limited until a functioning part of the automatic winding apparatus with which the timepiece is equipped is activated. Furthermore, the invention is related to the divorcement from the regulatory rate control of the instrument of thebacklash and other uncertain features of manually operated apparatus so that the purely automatic features of rate adjustment mechanism may berelied upon to determine the rate change which may be expected when a manual setting of the hands ofthe instrument has been completed. It may be said of this invention that it provides for the setting of the stage during manual setting of the hands of a timepiece so that a completely separate instrumentality, namely the power device for winding a .drive spring may take over the actual function of rate change.

In the drawings: 3 i 7 FIG. 1 is a plan view of a portion of a timepiece movement; a frame plate being partially broken away to show mechanism related to hand setting and rate regulation; a

FIG. 2is a section on line 2'-2' of FIG. 1;

FIG. Sis a section on line 3-43 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a section on line 4-4 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a side elevationof the movement shown in FIG. 1, the view being taken on line 5-5 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is an exploded view in perspective of the parts centered upon a shaft the axis of which is aligned with but separate from the balance wheel shaft of the movement;

FIGS. 7, 8 and 9 are detail views, in sequence, of the biasing spring and its action in relation to its immediately associated parts;

FIG. 10 is a seotionon line 10-10 of FIG. 11 showing the motive parts of atimepiece movement with which the invention is related.

FIG. '11 is an elevation viewed on line ill-11 of FIG. 10. v

FIG. 12 is a diagrammatic view of the circuit for electrification of the spring tensioning apparatus of the electrically wound clock.

Heretofiore many devices have been made whereby the setting of the hands of a timepiece to correct the setting as required by too fast or too slowa rate,will automatically correct the rate. Such devices have accomplished the rate correctionat the time the hand set correction is accomplished or when the manual control device for changing the hand positions is returned to its stand-by position.

The timepiece which isshown inthe drawings as an environment in which the invention is disclosed for illustrative purposes, has a frame comprising posts 21, 22 and 23 extending through andbetween frame plates 24,

25 and 26, plus a plate 27 which includes a 'bracketlike bridge 28. Generally speaking, the timepiece movement is located between plates 25 and 27. The power equipment for operating the movement is located between ice plates j24 and 25 and the hour and minute wheels and their associated parts for driving hour shaft 29 and minuteshaft 36 are arranged between plates 26 and 27.

Because of the importance of the electric coil and magnet used to operate the automatic regulator in keeping with this invention, a more detailed descriptionl of the power apparatus for the clock movement is heredescribed. Mounted to plate 24, which is of dielectric fiber material is an L-shaped frame 35, each leg of which is secured to the plate 24 by a set of riveted projections 36, oneset of which is shownin FIG. 5. A coil 37 having its core 38 riveted to one leg 39 of the frame at 40 is provided with electric leads 41 and 42 which are in series connection with a battery or other sourcei'of cur rent as shown in FIG. 12 and as described below, and are in series with a set of con-tact points, one ofwhich at 43 is mounted on the end of an armature arm, 44 secured to armature 45. This armature is hingedly secured to frame 35 at 46 where it will be seen that a pair of hinge members 47 and 48 are provided with a pintle about which is wound a torsion spring 49 braced to the frame 35 zit-50 and bearing against armature 45 at 51 so as to constantly bias the armature andthe arm 44 away from core 38. The limit to which the spring 49 may bias the armature away from core 3% is determined by an armature stop 52 as shown in FIG. 10. A power plate 55 (see FIG. 11) supports one end of a shaft at 36 which supports in turn an impulse wheel 57 on the side of which at 57 there is a cam. Against the peripheral margin of this cam is laid a spiralhelical spring 58, one end of which. is anchored at 59 to a pin extending from plate 55, the other end of which is secured to the impulse wheel, by means of pin 69 adjacent the extreme lobe of the .cam away from center about which the impulse wheel is ,mounted to oscillate (see FIG. 10). Then since the shaft 56 of the impulse wheel is tubular, a solid shaft 61 extending into the tubular shaft 56 at the left as seen'in FIG. 11,

and extending into bearing relation with the bracket 28.

of plate 27 is in position to provide for free rotation thereon of ratchet wheel 62 in position to be acted upon by ratchet 63 mounted upon a pin 64 extending outward- 1y from a periphcralposition upon the impulse wheel 57. A suitable torsion spring at 65 causes the pawl 63 to bear upon the ratchet wheel resiliently at all times. Thus when the ratchet drives the ratchet wheel, a driving pin 66 extending into engagement with a torsion spring 67 on shaft 61 carries the driving force to shait 61 and to center wheel 68 for the movement. Pinion 70 on shaft 61 is in position for engagement with minute wheel 71 on minute shaft 30. Conventional connection between the minute wheel and the hour wheel and the hour shaft are provided in the space between plates 26. and'27 as above generally referred to.

There is upon the impulse wheel a bracket at 72 upon which there is so aligned an electric contact point 73 that as the armature arm and its contact point 43 receive the sudden impulse of a pull by coil 37 and its core 38,

. the points are forced together still more forceably and the brought in contact with contact point '43, the circuit shown in FIG. 12 is again re-established for another spring winding operation;

It will be understood that the hands of the clock are mounted upon the minute shaft 31) and the hour shaft 29 in the usual way and that their associated minute wheel and hour Wheel are in such relation to the clock movement which drives them with friction drive ele- -ments therebetween that the hands may be moved by manual control means for reset-ting purposes independent 7 of the movement of the timepiece.

To accomplish this there is a hand setting knob 80 on setting stem 81 provided with a pinion 82 fixed thereon. Since .stem 31 is reciprocably mountedthrough plate 26 in a clipped bearing mount 83, a spring 84 partially housed in the cup of the bearing mount normally biases the stem carried assembly to the position, shown in FIG. 2. However, when the stem 81is manually pulled to the right as seen in that view the setting pinion 82, is axially slid able into mesh with the first of a series ofpinions and 2 gears 85, 86' in a conventional manner to connect the f stern with the hands of the clock for setting purposes. Manual rotation of knob: Sit and stem 81 will then adjust the hands of the clock to thepdesired position and to correct the setting as needed, and it is in connection with this manual operation of the hands to correct for slow operation of the, clock movement or for fast operation that this invention is involved.

. At the same time that the pinion 82 is pulled into mesh with gear by the manual pulling action on knob 80, a friction disc 9% is pulled into such a position as to cause its face 91 to bear against a knurled or roughened wheel 92. This wheel 2 is fixed upon worm wheel shaft 93 extending'parallel' with plate 26. Spaced bearings 94-95 are fixed with relation to plate 26 and position the worm shaft 93 so that its worm 96 is meshed with worm wheel 97.

It will assist in the clarification of the description of the parts now to be described if attention is directed to FIGURES l, 2 and 6 where it will beseen that worm Wheel 97 is mounted freely upon the cylindrical hub-like portion 98 of headed stub shaft 109; the riveted end 99 of the stub shaft being extended through plate 26. Other parts assembled on this same cylindrical face 93 of stub shaft 100 include L-shaped torsion spring 101, a torsion spring limiting bracket 182 (then the worm Wheel 97), and finally, between the worm wheel 97 and the plate 26 there is a spring washer 103.

As shown in FIG. 3 there parts 101, 192, 97 and 103 e are ,frictionally contacted with one another upon the headed stub shaft 1% because of the bias of spring washer 103. Therefore, when worm wheel 97 is rotated, torsion spring 101 and torsion spring limiting bracket 1G2 tend to frictionally follow the movement of the worm wheel to the extent permitted by thefan 104, since the tip of the L-shaped torsion spring extends into notch 105.

In accord with this invention the fan is normally held by the firm clamping retention of a brake shoe 111 (see FIGS. 1 and 5) bearing on the fan and pressing it against plate 27. The brake is normal to, and integral with brake arm 112 extended loosely through an opening in plate 27 at-113 so that the end of the brake arm at 114 isin alignment with fibre (insulator) extension 115 of armature 45but in'the at rest position of these parts 114 does not bear against this armature extension. Means for providing bias assuring real pressure on brake shoe 111 to prevent oscillation of the fan 104 comprises an arched leaf spring 116 (shown most clearly in FIG. 5).

I From this description it will be seen that any oscillation of pinion 97 will, to the extent of the resulting friction drive of such pinion 97 against bracket 102 oscillate this bracket so as to torsionally establish bias in spring 101 tending to oscillate fan 104. FIGURES 7, 8 and 9 illustrate the degree to which the spring fill is distorted, and in comparison of FIGURES 8 and 9, it will be seen that the jaws of the bracket in spaced relation to the edges of y d. rotation of knob 80 while the pinion 97 is responsive to hand setting gear 85 the spring 101 can be stressed and held in stressed position as shown in FIGURE 8, but no resulting adjustment of fan 104 will take place unless and until coil 37 is energized andthe pull of the armature 45 causes the fibre extension of the armature to bear against brake arm 112 at 114 and release the brake 111. This release is extremely momentary and tests have shown that the release period is of the order oi 0f a second.

The purpose of this divorcement of the fan adjustment from the manual adjustment of knob 80 and its associated parts such as the friction drive between disc 91 and wheel 92, between worm 96 and gear 97 and between spring 191 and bracket 102 is that each of these. inter-relationships of parts involves back-lash or uncertain driving effects.

As shown in FIG. 12 the electric circuit for winding the clock includes contact point 73 carried by the impulse wheel 57. and the contact 43 on the end of the armature 44. When these contact points are in abutment, they complete a circuit through a battery 120 through the coil 37 and back to contact point 73. When the spring 58 is placed in tension so as to drive the movement of the clock, balance wheel 121 on its arbor 122 controls a suitable escapcment including palate 123 so that the arbor and the balance wheel will oscillate under control of hair spring 125'; Then because theouter coil of the hair spring passes through fan hairspring slot at 1060f the fan 104, the rate of movement is controlled by the fan;

The operation of the clock mechanism-relative. to spring winding is now understood at least inthe sense that spring 53 is retensioned each time that the spring motivates the clock movement sufficiently to bring the contact points 43 and 73 into circuit completing contact.

In one particular clock interval between spring retensioning operations ofthe armature is two and half minutes.

Assuming that the clock equipped with the elements of this invention is several minutes fast in that the minute hand on shaft 29 points to a dial calibration two minutes ahead of the true time indication, the operator of the clock will pull the setting knob and stem -81 to the right as seen in FIG. 2 This will move pinion 32 into mesh with gear =and the setting gear train will be responsivetovrotation of the setting knob to correct the position of the hands Coincident with the complete meshing of pinion 82*with gear 85, the-face 91 of disc 91) will be in contact'with wheel 92 on'worm shaft 93 so that the rotation of knob 30 will also rotate worm 96, and as worm wheel 97 commences to rotate the'torsion spring will be frictionally moved with it. However, the tip of the torsion spring extending into notch 1050f brake held fan 164 will preventthe torsion spring from following bracket IGZvcry far andthe parts will assume positions as in FIG. 8. Thereupon any further movernent of the knob 80' or its connectedparts may rotate the minute shaft 29,and worm wheel 97 may continue to rotate in continuance of the movement, but the friction between parts 97, 102 and 101 will not be adequate to overcome the resistance of the braked fan.

Then, assuming that the knob 82 is released while the torsion spring is in the position shown in FIG. 8, the friction induced by pressure of spring washer 103 will hold this position of the parts until some other forces are brought into functioning relation to these parts. For instance, if the knob St is again pulled and rotated in the opposite direction from the previous operation, the torsion spring may be partially, or wholly returned to the position shown in FIG. 9, or'thrust to the opposite position from that shown in FIG. 8;

However, if a tensioning operation of spring 58 is instituted by energization of coil 37 while torsion spring 191 is under stress, then armature 45 will swing brake arm 112 in a momentary release of the braking action on fan 164 and the tip of the torsion spring will cause a very slight change in adjustment of the hair spring rate degree of torque, in either direction at the will of the operator, and the effect is merely an augmenting or cancelling of previously stored energy in the spring'ltll. Thus an error in direction of hand setting can be corrected immediately by the operator without having the error actually result in an erroneous change in regulator fan adjustment.

We claim:

1. An automatic clock regulator for a clock including a movement having an escapement and balance wheel equipped have a hair spring, a'normally set brake and brake retained fan having a loop engaged with said spring to change the rate of the movement, means manually alternatively adjustable to bias the fan toward increased or decreased rate adjustment, and means for driving the movement, said driving means including intermittently energizable connections to said brake whereby to release the brake momentarily.

2. An automatic clock. regulator for a clock including a movement having an adjustably movable rate regulator, means comprising a'normally set brake to prevent adjustment of the rate regulator, intermittently energiza ble means for motivating the clock movement, and connections between said energizable means and the brake for momentary release of the brake, and biasing means for urging the rate regulator in a given direction provided with manual means for storing energy in said biasing means.

3. In a clock having a movement including a driving element for oscillation between spring wound and spring unwound position, a spring having a fixed end and an end connected to said driving element, a first electric contact secured for movement with said driving element and a second electric contact positioned to be contacted by said first contact when the driving element approaches spring unwound position, time indicating means connected to said movement and individually manually adjustable relative to said movement, manually adjusting means for adjusting said indicating means including a biasing element directionally biased according to the direction of movement of the manual adjusting means, regulator means for adjustably determining the rate of the movement, a rate change means for adjusting the means for determining the rate of the movement, said rate change means being connected for response in the direction of said biasing element, a releasable brake to prevent adjustment of the rate change means, and an electric circuit including said contacts and having a relatively movable coil and armature positioned to move the driving element to spring wound position when the contacts are in contact position, said brake having a release arm positioned for movement in response to relative movement of the coil and armature whereby to release the brake momentarily'when the armature moves.

4. A horological instrument having a regulable movement, energizable motivating means for said movement, and adjustable means for regulably controlling the operation of said movement; indicating means adjustably connected to said movement; a setting device mounted for alternative connection to or disconnection from the indicating means; a stress receiving biasing element mounted and connected in position to be stressed by the setting device in response to movement thereof while connected to the indicating means; said biasing element being connected to the adjustable regulabie means for movement thereof in response to the biasing element; and a brake positioned to prevent adjustment of the means for regulably controlling the operation of the movement; said brake having means responsive to the energization of the motivating means to momentarily release the brake.

5. A horological instrument having a regulable movement, energizable motivating means for said movement, and adjustable means for regulaby controlling the operation of said movement; indicating means adjustably connected to said movenemt; a setting device mounted for alternative connection to or disconnection from the indicating means; a stress receiving biasing element mounted and connected in position to be stressed by the setting device in response to movement thereof while connected to the indicating means; said biasing element being connected to the adjustable regulable means for movement thereof in response to the biasing element; and a releasable brake normally positioned to prevent adjustment of the means for regulably controlling the operation of the movement; said brake having means responsive to the energization of the motivating means to momentarily release the brake.

References Qited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,185,334 Dicke Jan. 2, 1940 2,542,430 Rabinow Feb. 20, 1951 2,845,772 Beyner Aug. 5, 1958 2,858,029 Rabinow Oct. 28, 1958 2,935,160 Lawson May 3, 1960 2,948,109 Witte Aug. 9, 1960 2,968,143 Meyer Jan. 17, 1961 

1. AN AUTOMATIC CLOCK REGULATOR FOR A CLOCK INCLUDING A MOVEMENT HAVING AN ESCAPEMENT AND BALANCE WHEEL EQUIPPED WITH A HAIR SPRING, A NORMALLY SET BRAKE AND BRAKE RETAINED FAN HAVING A LOOP ENGAGED WITH SAID SPRING TO CHANGE THE RATE OF THE MOVEMENT, MEANS MANUALLY ALTERNATIVELY ADJUSTABLE TO BIAS THE FAN TOWARD INCREASED OR DECREASED RATE ADJUSTMENT AND MEANS FOR DRIVING THE MOVEMENT, SAID DRIVING MEANS INCLUDING INTERMITTENTLY 